Senior Director Creative Operations Jobs in California

Creative Project & Program Management

• Lead the end-to-end management of multiple concurrent creative projects from intake through final delivery, ensuring timelines, milestones, and deliverables are met.

• Develop and maintain detailed project plans, schedules, and workflows that support efficient execution across all creative initiatives.

• Monitor project health, proactively identify risks or bottlenecks, and implement solutions to keep work moving forward.

• Balance competing priorities while adapting quickly to changing needs, shifting deadlines, and evolving stakeholder expectations.

• Ensure seamless project transitions between creative, production, brand, and other internal teams through clear documentation and organized handoffs.

Resource Planning & Team Operations

• Oversee creative resource allocation across multiple projects, balancing team capacity, skill sets, business priorities, and deadlines.

• Continuously evaluate workloads and proactively reassign resources as priorities shift to maximize efficiency and prevent bottlenecks.

• Partner with creative leadership to forecast staffing needs and recommend additional support when necessary.

• Track team utilization and identify opportunities to improve productivity and operational effectiveness.

Freelancer & Vendor Management

• Recruit, onboard, and manage a diverse network of freelance creatives, production partners, and external vendors to support creative output.

• Build and maintain long-term relationships with trusted creative partners to ensure flexibility and scalability during periods of increased demand.

• Coordinate contracts, project assignments, timelines, and performance expectations for external resources.

• Evaluate freelancer and vendor performance to maintain a high-quality talent network.

Creative Workflow & Process Optimization

• Continuously improve creative operations by identifying opportunities to streamline workflows, reduce inefficiencies, and establish scalable best practices.

• Develop standardized project management processes, templates, documentation, and operating procedures that improve consistency across the organization.

• Maintain visibility across all active projects and programs, ensuring stakeholders have timely updates on progress, risks, dependencies, and key milestones.

• Drive accountability by following up on action items, escalating issues when appropriate, and ensuring projects remain on track.

Asset Management & Organization

• Own and maintain the department's digital asset management structure, including Dropbox and other creative file repositories.

• Establish and enforce organizational standards, file naming conventions, version control, and archival processes to ensure assets remain easily accessible and up to date.

• Partner with creative team members to ensure project files are organized, complete, and ready for downstream production or distribution.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Serve as the primary operational partner between the creative team and internal stakeholders including brand, production, and other business partners.

• Translate stakeholder objectives, brand requirements, and business priorities into clear project plans and actionable creative deliverables.

• Lead recurring project status meetings, creative reviews, and cross-functional check-ins to align teams, identify blockers, and establish next steps.

• Foster strong partnerships by maintaining transparent communication, managing expectations, and ensuring stakeholders remain informed throughout the project lifecycle.

Communication & Stakeholder Management

• Communicate project status, timelines, risks, and resource needs clearly to leadership, internal teams, and external partners.

• Navigate competing requests with sound judgment, determining true business urgency while balancing overall team priorities.

• Build trusted relationships with internal creative teams, designers, agency partners, freelancers, and vendors through proactive communication and collaboration.

• Act as a central point of coordination to ensure alignment across all project stakeholders.

• 5+ years of experience in creative operations, project management, brand operations, production, or a related field.

• A refined eye and high taste level - able to interpret, communicate, and elevate a range of distinct creative visions. 

• Proven experience managing multiple complex creative projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.

• Strong understanding of creative development processes, branding, marketing campaigns, and production workflows.

• Demonstrated experience with resource planning, capacity management, and operational optimization.

• Experience managing freelancers, agencies, and external creative partners.

• Exceptional organizational, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

• Highly detail-oriented with the ability to balance strategic planning and tactical execution.

• Fluent in Adobe Creative Suite and Figma.

• Experience managing digital asset management systems in Dropbox or similar platforms.

• Ability to influence without direct authority and build strong cross-functional partnerships.

• Ability to defer to and support client vision, even when potentially in conflict with your own taste